Haas NewsWire, March 1, 1999

A spate of new developments has the East Bay Outreach Project (EBOP) entering a new and exciting era. EBOP is embarking on a new partnership with a University of California system-wide program, receiving new sources of funding, and creating the first external board of advisors in its history.

Since its inception in 1990, EBOP has pursued its mission of matching the human and intellectual resources of the Haas School to disadvantaged communities through entrepreneurial training and mentoring programs for underrepresented youth, and more recently, small business owners. Under the direction of Roberta Joyner and with the help of faculty advisors Ray Miles, Jenny Chatman, and Rich Lyons, EBOP is seeking to diversify its financial base and continually improve the effectiveness of its outreach efforts. EBOP reaches out to inner city high schools and youth in Berkeley, Richmond, Oakland, Emeryville, and El Cerrito, and to small business owners in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Through several programs, EBOP serves over 100 youth each year, and offers up to 70 Haas MBA and undergraduates the opportunity to serve as volunteer mentors, coaches, and speakers in its programs.

The most recent good news for the program is an agreement to move forward on a partnership with Mathmatics, Engineering, Science, and Achievement (MESA), a statewide educational program affiliated with UC's Office of the President. MESA intends to provide EBOP with a grant of $125,000 for a pilot business model. The model, called BETA (Business, Economics, Technology, Achievement) is under development and will draw heavily on EBOP's existing programs. Joyner will be working closely with MESA staff and the Office of the President on the pilot program. A formal, public announcement of the new partnership is in the works.

The partnership helps to ease the constant pressure to obtain external funding to support EBOP programs. EBOP has suffered ups and downs over the years as funding sources have come and gone. One of the goals of the office is to create greater financial stability by diversifying its funding base, which has gone from a single source in the early years to nearly 30 private and public sources now.

Another financial boost came in February when EBOP was named the recipient of a $25,000 yearly grant, over four years, from the Roberts Foundation to support EBOP's Young Entrepreneurs at Haas program (YEAH). The Roberts Foundation provides funding for programs leading to higher education, jobs, and careers for disadvantaged youth. Founder George Roberts is a member of the Haas School's Advisory Board. According to Joyner, "The Roberts Foundation is known for supporting cutting edge, innovative entrepreneurial programs serving at-risk youth. We are honored to receive the grant."

Young Entrepreneurs at Haas, EBOP's flagship program, offers business courses and field trips to local high school entrepreneurs over the summer and then pairs the youth with Haas MBAs for the academic year to develop viable business plans. The MBAs are both personal and professional mentors to the teens and encourage them to pursue advanced education. This year's crop of forty YEAH participants will pitch their ideas to a board of venture capitalists on Wednesday, March 13th at the Haas School. EBOP's venture capital board members include MBAs, local lenders, business leaders, YEAH alumni, and several members of EBOP's advisory board. The students' business ideas and multi-media presentations could win them up to $500 to launch an enterprise. Or they may opt for a $200 award to help defray college application costs.

EBOP has also formed its first ever external board of advisors to help steer the non-profit organization through its new phase. "We evolved as a group to the point where we can really benefit from the insights and contacts of a board, many of whose members are extremely successful entrepreneurs themselves," says Joyner. "We are grateful that they have volunteered to help make this program a model for the nation." The board, which has begun meeting regularly, is chaired by Steve Davenport, BS 54, MBA 55, retired founder and consultant of D/A Financial Group of California. The board also includes Haas alumni Richard Dumke, MBA 60, founder of Round Table Pizza; David Eckles, MBA 73, executive VP of Helm Financial Group; Tom Frainier, BS 79, MBA 81, owner of Semifreddi's Bakery; David Ruegg, BS 61, owner and VP of Rue-Ell Enterprises; Edmund Bartlett, BS 52, owner and retired chairman of Sun Valley Ford; Paul Chandler, MBA 89, president of Property Sciences Group; and Audrey Rice Oliver, founder, president, and CEO of Integrated Business Solutions.

EBOP's successful track record at Haas and its support of the strategic emphasis of entrepreneurship has made it an important component of the Haas School's external outreach, and the administration continues to endorse EBOP's mission and activities. In a recent letter to the Roberts Foundation, Dean Tyson said, "Haas is committed to continuing this successful effort and to enhancing its reach and effectiveness."

The New York Times reported last Sunday, February 21st, that Dean Tyson is one of two key voters on the Federal commission created by Congress to fix Medicare. The lengthy news feature thoroughly outlines the commission's work on the Medicare proposal going before Congress on March 1st. The article is posted in the Haas in the News bulletin board between the student lounges and the Computer Center.

Haas professor Jim Lincoln is quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle in a story about the flurry of local corporate buy outs. Lincoln suggested that the main reason for the recent acquisitions is that deregulation has resulted in a worldwide wave of mergers of financial and telecommunication services firms. The article is posted in the Haas in the News bulletin board between the student lounges and the Computer Center.

In another local story about mergers and acquisitions, OBIR professor Jenny Chatman was interviewed by KPIX channel 5 news last Thursday, February 18th. Chatman responded to questions about the Bay Area's potential image as an inhospitable business environment given Transamerica's latest sell off. Chatman said San Francisco is not like some other US cities that have lost primary industries, such as St. Louis and Detroit. What makes us immune, according to Chatman, is the high quality of life and the technology boom in the valley. Chatman also noted the area is full of entrepreneurs that rarely follow the pack -- so we can continue to expect surprises.

Bay Area computer chip giant Intel Corporation called Haas professor and former chief economist for the Department of Justice Carl Shapiro to the stand last Friday in its legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission. Shapiro's testimony, as reported in the Daily Californian on Wednesday, February 24, was expected to hinge on the assumption that Intel has a monopoly, but that their business practices have not harmed competition. The article is posted in the Haas in the News bulletin board between the student lounges and the Computer Center.

Seth Brenzel, MBA 99, has been busy promoting the San Francisco Symphony to his fellow students at the Haas School, according to a recent story in the orchestra's newsletter, which is sent to season ticket holders and friends of the Symphony. Brenzel is one of the Symphony's campus representatives who publicize a special 50% discount on tickets for college students. The newsletter, entitled Symphony, noted that Brenzel stuffs information about concerts into fellow student's mailboxes, and uses email to alert the 400 members of the MBA Culture Club to interesting, upcoming concerts. "Graduate students in the professional schools especially see culture as important," he told the newsletter. He has interned in the Symphony's marketing department and filled in a temporary employee on its public relations staff. "Now that people on campus know of my Symphony connection, I'm asked to recommend programs," added Brenzel, who holds a degree in music composition from Swarthmore College.

The investing advice of Haas alumni Dan Goldie, MBA 97, appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, February 23. Goldie, a financial planner and published author, advises: "Value stocks are not a free lunch. They have more financial risk than growth stocks and are equally volatile in down markets." The article is posted in the Haas in the News bulletin board between the student lounges and the Computer Center.

Unless you frequent the west side of the faculty wing at the Haas School or submit manuscripts to the Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), you may not have met editorial assistant Danielle Zeghbib, pronounced ZEG-beeb. Danielle assists Russ Winer, the editor of JMR, with a variety of tasks associated with the quarterly publication. Since June of 1997, she has been administering the manuscript submission, review, and acceptance process as well as assembling the 500 plus pages of scholarly research articles that go off to the publisher four times yearly.

Danielle graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in philosophy. A fluent French and German speaker, Danielle lived in Germany for a year while she was an undergraduate and regularly travels to France to visit her father, a long-time Parisian and French native. In the evenings, Danielle takes acting and voiceover classes, and she can occasionally be heard on UC Berkeley's KALX , 90.7, where she volunteers and substitute DJ's. She will be performing on stage at San Francisco City College at the end of the month. Danielle bikes to campus from Oakland, where she lives with her cat, Goodyear.

Friday, 3/5/99 12:45 pm, CELLOS FOR CHARITY. Andersen Auditorum. A cello concert benefiting Challenge for Charity. Tickets for the event are only $5, and tickets will be sold beginning Friday (February 19th). For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact Jonathan Kish at kish@haas.berkeley.edu.

Saturday 3/6/99 1:00 -4:00 pm, UNDERGRADUATE ALUMNI FORUM. Wells Fargo Room, Haas School of Business. Join us for an exciting new networking and career event for undergraduates and alumni. This event is free, please RSVP by March 4th. For more information contact alumni@haas.berkeley.edu or 510/642-7790.

The Haas NewsWire is the electronic news weekly for the Haas community published every Monday by the Marketing and Communications Office at the Haas School. Send your news, feedback, and suggestions to Haasnews@haas.berkeley.edu.

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